Prolonged dry weather increases fuel consumption – Region 6 Chairman Armogan

THE Region 6 Administration has noted that, with the prolonged dry weather, there will be increased usage of fuel; $200M has been allocated for fuel for 2014.

Regional Chairman Mr. David Armogan, during a press conference, observed that as the various pumps are utilised for longer periods, more fuel would have to be procured.

“At the moment we have fuel, which will last until mid-January 2015, so we will have to go back to central government for additional funds if the pumps are to be operable after mid-January,” he disclosed.
The Chairman noted that if it does not rain, the pumps would have to continue working to maybe mid-February. This, he said, would have implications for fuel, as monies have already been exhausted.

“As a result, we will have to look to central Government for additional funding, and I hope that the Opposition will understand this, because they are talking about additional spending…. They must go and tell the farmers that we are stopping the Government from pumping water. They should go there instead of going when there (are) little problems with water and making big noises. They should now go tell the farmers that ‘we are not going to allow the Government to spend money to buy fuel to pump the water…’

“But they are not going to do that. They are just hiding; they are hiding all over the place. We have got to be careful with these people, who are running around trying to create mischief in the communities…. You know what they call the silly period — election period, and we should expect a lot of silly things coming from some of these people,” Armogan declared.

Armogan has, in the meantime, debunked the suggestion that fuel has been pilfered, resulting in a $7M increase when compared with 2013. This year, $200M have been allocated for fuel.

“We do not have evidence of pilfering…the problem is that (with) the dry weather, we have had to push the pumps for longer periods, we are now supplying more acreage…. Two years ago, we only had about 50,000 acres under cultivation. Now we have 62,000 acres under cultivation, so we are providing water to an additional 10,000 acres,” he boasted.

Garbage
Addressing the garbage issue, Armogan confessed that the administration was not able to deal with the problem in a way it would have liked.

“We have a private contractor picking up garbage in the Berbice area, but as far as I am concerned, he has not been effective with respect to service delivery to the householders; and understand, too, (that) the householders have been hesitant to take his services, as they have to pay $300 per barrel,” Armogan said.

However, he noted that, despite residents’ resistance, the laws have now been put in place under the new regulation, which is now in effect.

“We have asked the members of the neighbourhood policing group who will be working with the municipality, and they will be empowered by law to enforce the regulations. One of the big problems we have had is that we have only been talking. The time has come to enforce the regulation.’

The fine, he said, is $50,000 per householder who disposes of garbage in public places and practises indiscriminate dumping.

“The businesses have a way of giving the junkies [narco addicts] a hundred dollars to let them dispose of it (their garbage)… We are not going to charge the junkies, they will have to tell us where they get the rubbish from, and we will work to charge those persons who are using the junkies to throw the garbage around the place. For businesses, the fine is $100,000,” he added.

“Additionally,” he said, “if a person throws garbage out of a car and it’s a hire car and we cannot identify who did it, then the chauffeur will be charged, as he is responsible for providing a receptacle for people to put garbage. At the Berbice Bridge road entrance, when the grass is slashed, it is disgusting to see the volume of garbage thrown on the roadside. We are serious about enforcing the law. In Berbice, we must implement the rules,” he iterated.

Work status
With respect to the work status, the region has completed ninety three percentage of capital works. “We still have another seven percentage of work… the administration is optimistic that we will complete 100% work as long as the weather is in our favour,” Armogan declared.

“In terms of current expenditure, we are just over ninety percent in spending, and we are hopeful that all monies under the current expenditure will be expended before the end of the year,” he said.

Armogan was convinced that monies would not be returned to the treasury. “We are not going to send back any monies to the treasury, because every dollar you send to the treasury is a dollar you are robbing the people of services…. Every extra dollar we can spend we will spend to make sure our people are happy, so that we can bring some measure of comfort to residents in the various communities,” Armogan said.

Rains
We are preparing for the rains…and we have already been working over the last couple of months to ensure that our drainage systems are clean; to ensure that the water can flow out of the land as quickly as possible.

“At present there are twelve machines working throughout the region in the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils and municipalities. When it rains, it is expected that the situation will be so managed as to eliminate or minimise flooding,” the Chairman promised.

“We are also cleaning our sluices. People accuse us of cleaning the sluices only when it rains, but there is a reason for that. If you clear the sluices in the dry weather, within one week it is blocked up again because of the siltation which takes place at the mouth of these sluices. Once you don’t flush regularly, there will be siltation, and to do so (flush regularly), water is needed.

“Additionally, our Meteorological office is not accurate, and sometimes you cannot depend on their predictions to accurately say what you will do. Many times they say it will rain and then there is sunshine, and when they say sunshine there is rain,” he admitted.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.